The relation which the holy council of Ephesus sent to
Pope Celestine; in which are explained what things were done in that
Holy and Great Council.

The Holy Synod which by the grace of God was assembled
at Ephesus the Metropolis to the most holy and our fellow-minister
Cœlestine, health in the Lord.

The zeal of your holiness for piety, and your care for
the right faith, so grateful and highly pleasing to God the Saviour of
us all, are worthy of all admiration. For it is your custom in
such great matters to make trial of all things, and the confirmation of
the Churches you have made your own care. But since it is right
that all things which have taken place should be brought to the
knowledge of your holiness, we are writing of necessity [to inform you]
that, by the will of Christ the Saviour of us all, and in accordance
with the orders of the most pious and Christ-loving Emperors, we
assembled together in the Metropolis of the Ephesians from many and far
scattered regions, being in all over two hundred bishops. Then,
in accordance with the decrees of the Christ-loving Emperors by whom we
were assembled, we fixed the date of the meeting of the holy Synod as
the Feast of the Holy Pentecost, all agreeing thereto, especially as it
was contained in the letters of the Emperors that if anyone did not
arrive at the appointed time, he was absent with no good conscience,
and was inexcusable both before God and man. The most reverend
John bishop of Antioch stopped behind; not in singleness of heart, nor
because the length of the journey made the impediment, but hiding in
his mind his plan and his thought (which was so displeasing to God,) [a
plan and thought] which he made clear when not long afterwards he
arrived at Ephesus.

Therefore we put off the assembling [of the council]
after the appointed day of the Holy Pentecost for sixteen whole days;
in the meanwhile many of the bishops and clerics were overtaken with
illness, and much burdened by the expense, and some even died. A
great injury was thus being done to the great Synod, as your holiness
easily perceives. For he used perversely such long delay that
many from much greater distances arrived before him.

Nevertheless after sixteen days had passed, certain of
the bishops who were with him, to wit, two Metropolitans, the one
Alexander of Apamea, and the other Alexander of Hierapolis, arrived
before him. And when we complained of the tardy coming of the
most reverend bishop John, not once, but often, we were told, “He
gave us command to announce to your reverence, that if anything should
happen to delay him, not to put off the Synod, but to do what was
right.” After having received this message,—and as it
was manifest, as well from his delay as from the announcements just
made to us, that he refused to attend the Council, whether out of
friendship to Nestorius, or because he had been a cleric of a church
under his sway, or out of regard to petitions made by some in his
favour,—the Holy Council sat in the great church of Ephesus,
which bears the name of Mary.

But when all with zeal had come together, Nestorius
alone was found missing from the council, thereupon the holy Synod sent
him admonition in accordance with the canons by bishops, a first,
second, and third time. But he surrounding his house with
soldiers, set himself up against the ecclesiastical laws, neither did
he shew himself, nor give any satisfaction for his iniquitous
blasphemies.

After this the letters were read which were written to
him by the most holy and most reverend bishop of the Church of
Alexandria, Cyril, which the Holy Synod approved as being orthodox and
without fault (ὀρθῶς καὶ
ἀλήπτως
ἔχειν), and in no point out of
agreement either with the divinely inspired Scriptures, or with the
faith handed down and set forth in the great synod of holy Fathers,
which assembled 238sometime ago at
Nice in Bithynia, as your holiness also rightly having examined this
has given witness.

On the other hand there was read the letter of
Nestorius, which was written to the already mentioned most holy and
reverend brother of ours and fellow-minister, Cyril, and the Holy Synod
was of opinion that those things which were taught in it were wholly
alien from the Apostolic and Evangelical faith, sick with many and
strange blasphemies.

His most impious expositions were likewise read, and
also the letter written to him by your holiness, in which he was
properly condemned as one who had written blasphemy and had inserted
irreligious views (φωνᾶς) in his private
exegesis, and after this a just sentence of deposition was pronounced
against him; especially is this sentence just, because he is so far
removed from being penitent, or from a confession of the matters in
which he blasphemed, while yet he had the Church of Constantinople,
that even in the very metropolis of the Ephesians, he delivered a
sermon to certain of the Metropolitical bishops, men who were not
ignorant, but learned and God-fearing, in which he was bold enough to
say, “I do not confess a two or three months old God,” and
he said other things more outrageous than this.

Therefore as an impious and most pestilent heresy, which
perverts our most pure religion (θρησκείαν)
and which overthrows from the foundation the whole economy of the
mystery [i.e. the Incarnation], we cast it down, as we have said
above. But it was not possible, as it seemed, that those who had
the sincere love of Christ, and were zealous in the Lord should not
experience many trials. For we had hoped that the most reverend
John, bishop of Antioch would have praised the sedulous care and piety
of the Synod, and that perchance he would have blamed the slowness of
Nestorius’s deposition. But all things turned out contrary
to our hope. For he was found to be an enemy, and a most warlike
one, to the holy Synod, and even to the orthodox faith of the churches,
as these things indicate.

For as soon as he was come to Ephesus, before he had
even shaken off the dust of the journey, or changed his travelling
dress, he assembled those who had sided with Nestorius and who had
uttered blasphemies against their head, and only not derided the glory
of Christ, and gathering as a college to himself, I suppose, thirty
men, having the name of bishops (some of whom were without sees,
wandering about and having no dioceses, others again had for many years
been deposed for serious causes from their metropolises, and with these
were Pelagians and the followers of Celestius, and some of those who
were turned out of Thessaly), he had the presumption to commit a piece
of iniquity no man had ever done before. For all by himself he
drew up a paper which he called a deposition, and reviled and
reproached the most holy and reverend Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, and
the most reverend Memnon, bishop of Ephesus, our brother, and
fellow-minister, none of us knowing anything about it, and not even
those who were thus reviling knew what was being done, nor for what
reason they had presumed to do this. But ignoring the anger of
God for such behaviour, and unheeding the ecclesiastical canons, and
forgetting that they were hastening to destruction by such a course of
action, under the name of an excommunication, they then reviled the
whole Synod. And placing these acts of theirs on the public
bulletin boards, they exposed them to be read by such as chose to do
so, having posted them on the outside of the theatres, that they might
make a spectacle of their impiety. But not even was this the
limit of their audacity; but as if they had done something in
accordance with the canons, they dared to bring what they had done to
the ears of the most pious and Christ-loving Emperors. Things
being in this condition, the most holy and reverend Cyril, bishop of
Alexandria and the most reverend Memnon bishop of the city of Ephesus,
offered some books composed by themselves and accusing the most
reverend Bishop John and those who with him had done this thing, and
conjuring our holy Synod that John and those with him should be
summoned according to the canons, so that they might apologize for
their daring acts, and if they had any complaints to make they might
speak and prove them, for in their written deposition, or rather sheet
of abuse, they made this statement as a pretext, “They are
Apollinarians, and Arians, and Eunomians, and therefore they have been
deposed by us.” 239When,
therefore, those who had endured their reviling were present, we again
necessarily assembled in the great church, being more than two hundred
bishops, and by a first, second, and third call on two days, we
summoned John and his companions to the Synod, in order that they might
examine those who had been reviled, and might make explanations, and
tell the causes which led them to draw up the sentence of deposition;
but he273273 Plural in the Greek
but singular in the Latin, which the critical editors consider the
correct reading. did not dare to come.

But it was right that he, if he could truly prove the
before-mentioned holy men to be heretics, both should come and prove
the truth of that which, accepted as a true and indubitable crime,
induced the temerarious sentence against them. But being
condemned by his own conscience he did not come. Now what he had
planned was this. For he thought that when that foundation-less
and most unjust reviling was done away, the just vote of the Synod
which it cast against the heretic Nestorius would likewise be
dissolved. Being justly vexed, therefore, we determined to
inflict according to law the same penalty upon him and those who were
with him, which he contrary to law had pronounced against those who had
been convicted of no fault. But although most justly and in
accordance with law he would have suffered this punishment yet in the
hope that by our patience his temerity might be conquered, we have
reserved this to the decision of your holiness. In the meanwhile,
we have deprived them of communion and have taken from them all
priestly power, so that they may not be able to do any harm by their
opinions. For those who thus ferociously, and cruelly, and
uncanonically are wont to rush to such frightful and most wicked
things, how was it not necessary that they should be stripped of the
powers which [as a matter of fact] they did not possess,274274 It seems that
ἔχοντας and not
ἐκόντας, is the
true reading. of being able to do harm.

With our brethren and fellow-ministers, both Cyril the
bishop and Memnon, who had endured reproval at their hands, we are all
in communion, and after the rashness [of their accusers] we both have
and do perform the liturgy in common, all together celebrating the
Synaxis, having made of none effect their play in writing, and having
thus shewn that it lacked all validity and effect. For it was
mere reviling and nothing else. For what kind of a synod could
thirty men hold, some of whom were marked with the stamp of heresy, and
some without sees and ejected [from their dioceses]? Or what
strength could it have in opposition to a synod gathered from all the
whole world? For there were sitting with us the most reverend
bishops Arcadius and Projectus, and with them the most holy presbyter
Philip, all of whom were sent by your holiness, who gave to us your
presence and filled the place of the Apostolic See (τῆς
ἀποστολικῆς
καθέδρας). Let
then your holiness be angered at what took place. But if license
were granted to such as wished to pour reproval upon the greater sees,
and thus unlawfully and uncanonically to give sentence or rather to
utter revilings against those over whom they have no power, against
those who for religion have endured such great conflicts, by reason of
which now also piety shines forth through the prayers of your holiness
[if, I say, all this should be tolerated], the affairs of the Church
would fall into the greatest confusion. But when those who dare
to do such things shall have been chastised aright, all disturbance
will cease, and the reverence due to the canons will be observed by
all.

When there had been read in the holy Synod what had been
done touching the deposition of the most irreligious Pelagians and
Cœlestines, of Cœlestius, and Pelagius, and Julian, and
Præsidius, and Florus, and Marcellian, and Orontius, and those
inclined to like errors, we also deemed it right (ἐδικαιώσαμεν
) that the determinations of your holiness concerning them should stand
strong and firm. And we all were of the same mind, holding them
deposed. And that you may know in full all things that have been
done, we have sent you a copy of the Acts, and of the subscriptions of
the Synod. We pray that you, dearly beloved and most longed for,
may be strong and mindful of us in the Lord.275275 The Latin adds,
“Then all the bishops subscribed their names.”

273 Plural in the Greek
but singular in the Latin, which the critical editors consider the
correct reading.